Selected Primary Sources in the Sophia Smith Collection

Note: This guide lists the papers and oral histories of women of color and the records of their organizations. It also includes collections of white women, families, and organizations that contain material on women of color, or document the history of race relations in the U.S., including slavery, the abolitionist movement, the civil rights movement, and reproductive justice.

Personal Papers

Jennifer Abod (1946 - )
Papers, 1975-2007 (ongoing)
9.75 linear ft. (10 boxes)
White filmmaker, feminist, lesbian activist. In 1988 Abod created Profile Productions to produce and distribute media featuring feminist activists and cultural workers, including women of color who influence broad constituencies. Abod produced the audio documentary Audre Lorde: An Audio Profile (1988), and the video documentary The Edge of Each Other's Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde (2002). The collection consists almost entirely of audiovisual materials pertaining to her work as a filmmaker. There is also a small amount of correspondence and press releases, including those documenting race relations.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use. Collection is stored offsite; researchers must give 48 hours advance notice. Original audiovisual materials are closed; use copies must be made.]

Rebecca Adamson (1949 - )
Papers, 1979-2007 (ongoing)
29 linear ft. (51 boxes)
Economist, Founder First Nations Development Institute, Native American rights advocate. Papers are primarily related to her professional and public life, and focus on two organizations founded by Adamson, the First Nations Development Institute (FNDI) and First Peoples Worldwide (FPW). Major topics include American Indians, indigenous people, and economic development. Portions of the work of FNDI are particularly well chronicled through detailed staff reports and records on Field Operations and the Lakota Fund. Speeches, writings, and interviews elucidate the development of Adamson's "financial sufficiency approach" to economic development and her conception of "indigenous economics" as a model for sustainable development. Conference, meetings, and organizations files document Adamson's active involvement in a wide variety of national and international gatherings, organizations, and boards.View finding aid

Ames Family Papers (1882-1958)
Papers, 1812-2009 (ongoing)
60.5 linear ft. (148 boxes)
Includes the papers of U.S. Army General Adelbert Ames (1835-1933), a white leader of Reconstruction in Mississippi: Provisional Governor in 1868, U.S. Senator in 1870, and Governor in 1874. The papers consist of his official correspondence, his letters to his wife Blanche (Butler) Ames, and her diary and letters to her mother.View finding aid

Marian Anderson (1897-1993)
Papers, 1944-1959
.25 linear ft. (1 box)
Singer. Anderson was the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera, and in 1958 she was appointed to the American delegation to the United Nations. This small collection documents her wide range of interests and contributions to world peace and understanding.View finding aid

Charon Asetoyer (1951 - )
Papers, 1985-2008 (ongoing)
3.75 linear ft. (8 boxes)
Abortion rights advocate, women's health activist, indigenous rights activist. Asetoyer co-founded the Native American Community Board (NACB) on the Yankton Sioux reservation in South Dakota in 1985, which in 1988 evolved into the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center. Asteoyer is Executive Director of the Resource Center and has served on the boards of the American Indian Center, the National Women's Health Network, and the Indigenous Women's Network. The bulk of the papers focus on Asetoyer's activism in indigenous rights, women's health, and reproductive justice issues; major topics include Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, HIV/AIDS and Native Americans, health care for rural and underserved populations, and indigenous women's activism and leadership. See also the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project and the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center Records.View finding aid

Byllye Avery (1937 - )
Papers, 1976-2005 (ongoing)
7.5 linear ft. (8 boxes)
Health reformer, reproductive rights advocate. The papers document Avery's work as an African-American activist in the field of black women's health and reproductive rights. The papers also contain materials relating to Avery's involvement in the Black Women's Health Imperative, which she founded as the National Black Women's Health Project in the early 1980s. See also the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View finding aid

Katsi Cook (1952 - )
Papers, 1977-2008 (ongoing)
4.75 linear ft. (10 boxes)
Midwife, environmentalist, indigenous rights activist. The collection documents Cook's midwifery and women's health practice in the Akwesasne Mohawk community, and her involvement in the Mother's Milk Project, which she created in 1984 to document and monitor levels of PCBs and other industrial pollutants in the St. Lawrence River. Documentation of Cook's environmental justice and Native American reproductive health activism is extensive. See also the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project.View Finding Aid

Diana Davies (1938 - )
Papers, 1960s-1996 (ongoing)
17 linear ft. (57 boxes)
White activist, photojournalist, artist, and musician. Papers include photographs of women of color, civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s, and Native American activists.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

Lora Jo Foo (1951 - )
Papers, 1980-2009 (ongoing)
14 linear ft. (16 boxes)
Asian-American lawyer, labor organizer. Foo was co-founder of both the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum and the California-based Sweatshop Watch. From 1992 to 2000 she also worked with the Asian American Caucus, where she represented Asian American immigrant workers in sweatshop industries. The collection includes conference materials from the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. See also the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

Jewel Graham (1925 - )
Papers, 1940-2008 (ongoing)
8.75 linear ft. (9 boxes)
Professor, social work administrator, YWCA executive. The papers contain drafts of Graham's writings that address issues of race, including a typescript of her unpublished memoir The Life of My Times: Notes For an Autobiography (2005), which reflects on growing up as an African American girl in Springfield, Ohio, her education, her employment as professor, and her life-long service in the YWCA.
[This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use. Collection is stored offsite; researchers must give 48 hours advance notice.]

Jennifer M. Guglielmo (1967 - )
Papers, 1988-1990 (ongoing)
.75 linear ft. (2 boxes)
European American (Italian and Irish) historian, professor, reproductive justice advocate. The collection consists of her senior thesis, "The Community Health Representative Program: Two Decades of American Indian Women's Health Activism" (University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1990) and related materials, including taped interviews with Native American women and men who were active in redesigning health care throughout Wisconsin's Indian reservations, 1970s-1980s.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use. Access to audiovisual materials may first require production of research copies.]

Saralee Hamilton (1945-2006)
Papers, 1911-2013 (Bulk: 1972-2006)
9.5 linear ft. (17 boxes)
White feminist; Administrator; Reproductive rights advocate. For thirty-one years, Hamilton directed the Nationwide Women's Program of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). The collection includes materials of the many activist organizations Hamilton took part in, including the Reproductive Rights National Network, the National Black Women's Health Project, Women's International Solidarity Affair in the Philippines (WISAP)/Gabriela, Women Living Under Muslim Laws, Madre, and Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights. Topics include sterilization abuse and reproductive rights advocacy and politics. Additionally, several Central American and Asian women's organizations are represented. [Note: Access to audiovisual materials may first require production of research copies.]View finding aid

Dorothy Irene Height (1912 - 2010)
Papers, 1937-2005
.75 linear ft. (2 boxes)
Civil rights activist, African-American YWCA worker. The papers are primarily related to her work with the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), where she was the first Director of the Office of Racial Integration (renamed Office of Racial Justice in 1969), and her work with the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), where she served as President from 1958 until 1990.View Finding Aid

Hudson Family
Papers, 1825-1865
.5 linear ft. (1 box)
Physician, abolitionist, and social reformer. The collection relates primarily Erasmus Darwin Hudson (1806-1880), who was a member of the Connecticut Anti-Slavery Society and served as the National Anti-Slavery Society's general agent from 1839 to 1850. The papers include correspondence addressing anti-slavery events and personalities, and the typescript of Hudson's journal, Anti-Slavery Campaign (1842-43).View Finding Aid

Bertha F. Johnson
Papers, 1879-1957
.25 linear ft. (1 box)
White physician. Papers include reminiscences by Johnson's white grandmother, Elvira Lightner Allen, of slavery and the abolition movement. One relates the experience of Allen's father, Daniel Lightner, who witnessed the cruelty of slavery as a boy; another describes memories of her parents' Underground Railroad station in Indiana.View Finding Aid

Mary Metlay Kaufman (1912-1995)
Papers, 1917-1994
49 linear ft. (102 boxes)
White civil rights attorney, activist, and professor. Papers include documents related to her defense of Communist Party official Claudia Jones, as well as material related to her class on Racism and the Law, and some material on Angela Davis. [Note: Researchers must sign an Access Agreement Form, agreeing to protect confidentiality, before using some portions of this collection.]View Finding Aid

Luz Alvarez Martinez
Papers, 1978-2007 (ongoing)
14.5 linear ft. (13 boxes)
Mexican-American health reformer. Martinez co-founded the National Latina Health Organization and served as its Executive Director. She co-founded the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, and served on the Minority Women's Health Panel of Experts of the National Office of Women's Health. The papers consist of biographical information and materials pertaining to her leadership role in fostering the health and well-being of minority women, including photographs of gatherings and ritual celebrations, conference materials, photographs, publications, and memorabilia. See also the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

Constance Baker Motley (1921- 2005)
Papers, 1948-1988
6 linear ft. (16 boxes)
African American judge; Lawyer; Civil rights advocate; State senator. In the 1950s Motley was an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and later a New York City and State official and Federal judge; she was the first African American to serve in the New York State Senate.View Finding Aid

Jeanne L. Noble (1926-2002)
Papers, 1955-2002
15.5 linear ft. (36 boxes)
Professor. Noble was the author of The Negro Woman as College Graduate (1956) and Beautiful, Also, Are the Souls of My Black Sisters: a history of the Black woman in America (1978). The papers consist primarily of materials documenting Noble's involvement in the National Council of Negro Women, the Delta Sigma Theta sorority (of which she was national President), several governmental commissions and committees, and various community organizations; also included are essays and speeches by Noble.View Finding Aid

Frances Fox Piven (1932- )
Papers, 1957-2010 (ongoing)
113.25 linear ft. (145 boxes)
Professor, political science; Political activist. White academic and activist whose focus has been on the impact of race, class and gender on policy decisions. Her papers include teaching materials, as well as material from the several organizations she has been associated with, including Mobilization for Youth, National Welfare Rights Organization, and HumanSERVE.
[Note: Restricted Access: permission is required from the donor to use this collection. Contact the SSC for more information.]View Finding Aid

Francesca Rheannon (1948?- )
Papers, 2001-2006 (ongoing)
1.25 linear ft. (2 boxes)
White social worker, Public health specialist, Broadcast journalist, Radio producer. The collection includes materials pertaining to "Voices of HIV," a bilingual radio series to look at how HIV and AIDS are affecting the Latino communities of Western New England. [Note: Research copies must be made of audiovisual materials before they can be used. This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

Luz Rodriguez (1956 - )
Papers, 1964-2005 (ongoing)
9 linear ft. (9 boxes)
Puerto Rican reproductive rights advocate. Rodriguez is a founder of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective; she has also been involved with Casa Atabex Aché, the Latina Roundtable on Health and Reproductive Rights, the Dominican Women's Development Center, and the Foundation Center. The collection documents her activism in health and education for women of color, as well as other educational, family-oriented, and health-related organizations and initiatives. See also the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project.View Finding Aid

Loretta J. Ross (1953 - )
Papers, 1956-2013 (ongoing)
34.5 linear ft. (70 boxes)
African American reproductive rights advocate, civil rights activist, feminist, women's health and human rights activist. In 1979 Ross became director of the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, the only center run primarily by and for women of color. She was also Director of Women of Color Programs for the National Organization for Women, Program Director for the National Black Women's Health Project, and National Coordinator of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. The papers pertain primarily to her activism for reproductive justice for women of color, anti-violence, international human rights work, and black women's health. See also the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project .View Finding Aid

Margaret Sanger (1879-1966)
Papers, 1761-1995
112.75 linear ft. (226 boxes)View Finding Aid
andFlorence Rose (1903-1969)
Papers, 1832-1970
15 linear ft. (37 boxes)View Finding Aid
White women activists in the birth control movement. Both of these collections include material on the Harlem Clinic of the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau (1929-41) and the Negro Project of the Birth Control Federation of America (1939-42). The former contains reports, clippings, and correspondence. The latter contains reports and correspondence related to the BCFA's project to encourage African American women's access to birth control in the South.

Odile Sweeney (1913-1984)
Papers, 1961-1982
.5 linear ft. (1 box)
African American YWCA worker. The collection materials almost exclusively relate to Sweeny's work with the Young Women's Christian Association. Included are materials from Sweeney's years as the first African American chair of the National Student YWCA and the National Conference of Black Women in the YWCA in 1970.View Finding Aid

Nkenge Touré (1951 - )
Papers, 1968-2014 (ongoing)
5.25 linear ft. (11 boxes)
African-American political activist, health reformer, feminist, civil rights activist. The papers consist of extensive files pertaining to Touré's activism in health reform initiatives and civil and political rights for African American women, including materials on the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, where Touré worked as general administrator and director of community education for thirteen years. Touré's international work is also represented, and there is a small amount of material about the Black Panthers, in which Touré was a community worker. Touré is also a founder of the National Black United Front, and with Loretta Ross co-founded the International Council of African Women (ICAW) in 1982 to prepare African American women to participate in the 1985 United Nations Women's Conference in Nairobi. See also the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project.View finding aid

Carmen Vázquez (1949 - )
Papers, 1951-2007 (ongoing)
14.75 linear ft. (13 boxes)
Puerto Rican Lesbian activist, writer. Vázquez was the first Executive Director of the San Francisco Women's Building, co-founder of Somos Hermanas, and director of public policy at New York City's LGBT Community Center. The collection documents her activism for gay, lesbian, bi and transgender rights, including materials pertaining to gay and lesbian health issues, as well as Vázquez's interest and involvement in broader issues of race and class. See also the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project. [Note: Access to audiovisual materials may first require production of research copies. This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

Guida West (1927 - )
Papers, 1946-2006 (ongoing)
51.25 linear ft. (98 boxes)
Brazilian-born white political sociologist; Political activist; Researcher; Author. The collection contains voluminous documentation of the welfare rights movement from the mid-twentieth century to the present, including materials on civil rights and race relations, the relationship between poverty and race, and unequal treatment of blacks and whites in the welfare system. Much of the collection consists of research files and published and unpublished writings.View Finding Aid

Jane White (1922 - 2011)
Papers, 1924-2010 4.5 linear ft. (7 boxes)
African American actor. Board member of the American Negro Theatre and a co-founder and vice-president of Torchlight Productions, Inc. (1947-1949), an organization that promoted interracial casting. While the collection primarily documents White's professional career, her perspective on her prominent family lends insight into her parents, Walter and Gladys White, elites of the Harlem Renaissance.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

N. Beatrice Worthy (1913 - )
Papers, 1954-1984
.5 linear ft. (1 box )
African-American business executive with various organizations including Bell Laboratories, and AT&T, for which she was Affirmative Action coordinator. The papers (1954-77) consist of correspondence, writings, and printed material regarding her professional activities, and a closely related oral history interview done in 1983-84.View Finding Aid

Jane C. Wright (1919 - )
Papers, 1920-2006
19.75 linear ft. (23 boxes)
African American professor, Oncologist. Dr. Wright was Associate Dean of the New York Medical College (1967-75), the first woman in the United States to hold such a position at a medical school, and professor of surgery there, 1975-87. She was also the first woman elected president of the New York Cancer Society (1971), and was founder of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the major professional organization for this specialty of physicians.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

Organizations

ARISE for Social Justice (1985 - )
Records, 1956-2010 (ongoing)
30.25 linear ft. (32 boxes)
Grassroots advocacy organization, Social reformers. The ARISE for Social Justice Records provide documentation about how ARISE has approached problems affecting the economically disadvantaged and underserved populations in Springfield, Massachusetts and the surrounding area, including welfare reform ("workfare"), affordable housing, domestic violence, voter registration initiatives, and health care reform. Additionally, the collection includes materials on ARISE's local activism in regards to race relations.
[Note: Researchers must sign Access Agreement form to use certain files, agreeing to protect confidentiality, before using this collection.]View Finding Aid

Black Women's Health Imperative (1981- )
Records, 1983-2006 (ongoing)
11 linear ft. (11 boxes)
Women's health advocacy organization, formerly the National Black Women's Health Project. The records consist of materials pertaining to the administration and public outreach work of the BWHI, including board of directors files reports, correspondence, conference materials, photograph albums, memorabilia, and audiovisual materials. There is a large amount of promotional and educational materials, including pamphlets, posters, brochures, fact sheets, newsletters, self-help manuals, and videos. There is also a small amount of material pertaining to Byllye Avery as founder of BWHI. See also the National Women's Health Network and the Byllye Avery materials in the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

Center for the Advancement of Women
Women's advocacy organization. Founded in 1995 to conduct national opinion research on the experiences of women's daily lives in order to better educate leaders, policy makers and the general public. It was directed by Faye Wattleton, the first African-American president of Planned Parenthood.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

Miscellaneous Organizations Collection
Records, c.1824-2000 (ongoing)
14.75 linear ft. (32 boxes)
This collection includes small amounts of material from various organizations, including many addressing ethnic and racial equality: Black Women's Community Development Foundation; Missouri Federation of Colored Women; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; National Association of Colored Girls; National Association of Colored Women; National Association of Colored Women's Clubs; the National Council of Negro Women; the National Negro Labor Council; and Women for Racial and Economic Equality. There is also one pamphlet on Women of the Ku Klux Klan.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

Ms. Foundation For Women (1972- )
Records, 1973-2008 (ongoing)
222.75 linear ft. (185 Boxes)
Feminist advocacy organization. Initially founded to redistribute profits from Ms. Magazine to the grassroots women's movement. Much of the collection consists of files documenting the Foundation's various projects, including funding programs for women of color.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use. Collection is stored offsite; researchers must give 48 hours advance notice.View Finding Aid

National Congress of Neighborhood Women (1975- )
Records, 1974-2010 (ongoing)
170.75 linear ft. (258 boxes)
Feminist grassroots network. Records include documentation of programs regarding education, employment and housing, implemented by and for poor and low-income women, including many women of color. See Voices of Feminism Oral History Project for Jan Peterson, a founder of NCNW; and New York City Women Community Activists Oral History Project for Ethel Valez, African-American community leader and member of NCNW.
[Note: Partially restricted access - contact the Sophia Smith Collection for more information. Researchers must sign an Access Agreement Form, agreeing to protect confidentiality, before using this collection.]View Finding Aid

National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (1994- )
Records, 1992-2010 (ongoing)
.5 linear ft. (2 boxes)
Reproductive rights advocacy group. Founded in 1994 to ensure the fundamental human right to reproductive health for Latinas, their families and their communities through education, advocacy and coalition building. It was one of the first independent national organizations for Latinas on health and reproductive rights issues. This small collection includes newsletters and pamphlets.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]

National Network of Abortion Funds (1993- )
Records, 1994-2005
5.75 linear ft. (5 boxes)
Abortion rights advocacy group. Founded in 1993 with the goal of increasing access to abortions for low-income women and girls across the U.S.; the NNAF works to facilitate networking and to provide support to local member funds, which in turn provide direct assistance to women seeking abortions. NNAF is a member of several national coalitions, including the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. There are also documents from other organizations, including the Campaign for Access and Reproductive Equity and the National Women's Health Network.
[Note: Collection is stored offsite; researchers must give 48 hours advance notice. Researchers must sign an Access Agreement Form, agreeing to protect confidentiality, before using some portions of the collection. This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

National Women's Health Network (1975- )
Records, 1963-2011 (ongoing)
103.25 linear ft. (239 boxes)
Women's health advocacy organization. The NWHN seeks to improve the health of all women by developing and promoting a critical analysis of health issues in order to affect policy and support consumer decision-making. The Network aspires to a health care system that is guided by social justice and reflects the needs of diverse women. The collection includes materials on the Black Women's Health Imperative.View Finding Aid

Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center (1986- )
Records, 1986-2006 (ongoing)
30 linear ft. (24 boxes)
Women's health advocacy organization. The NAWHERC records document programs relating to a broad range of Native American health issues and cultural survival, including preservation of the Dakota language, alcoholism and other drug abuse problems, teen pregnancy prevention, abortion and reproductive health, fetal alcohol syndrome, diabetes, breast cancer, HIV/AIDS, environmental toxins, STDs, elderly population issues, and domestic violence. Materials relating to Charon Asetoyer's South Dakota State Senate campaign and interviews are also included. See also the Charon Asetoyer Papers and her oral history in the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project.
[Note: this collection has not been fully processed and therefore may be somewhat difficult to use. Collection is partially restricted; contact the SSC for more information.]View Finding Aid

The New Jersey Project (1986-2006)
Records, 1969-2006
71.25 linear ft. (57 boxes)
Feminist advocacy organization; educational program.The New Jersey Project on Inclusive Scholarship, Curriculum and Teaching was established by the State of New Jersey as the first statewide, state-funded gender and multicultural scholarship and curriculum project in the U.S. The collection is a rich source of information about issues of race, class, and gender in higher education, in New Jersey specifically, and the efforts of that State to address them among its college and university students and faculty. The Project published a journal, Transformations, and sponsored ALANA, a support network for women of color in higher education in New Jersey.
[Note: this collection has not been fully processed]View Finding Aid

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA I) (1921- )
Records, 1918-1974
41.75 linear ft. (107 boxes)View Finding Aid
andPlanned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA II) (1921- )
Records, 1928-2009
501.25 linear ft. (518 boxes (approx))View Finding Aid
Birth control advocacy organization. The records are a significant source of information on all aspects of the history of birth control and family planning, including materials on birth control clinics that provided reproductive health services to women of color and the Negro Project of the Birth Control Federation of America (1939-42).
[Note: Partially restricted access - contact the Sophia Smith Collection for more information. Portions of collection are stored offsite; researchers must give 48 hours advance notice. Access to audiovisual materials may first require production of research copies. This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]

Reproductive Justice For All Conference (2005)
Records, 2005
.75 linear ft. (2 boxes)
Reproductive rights advocates. The conference was co-sponsored by Planned Parenthood Federation of American and held at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, in 2005 to examine issues pertaining to women's rights in the realm of sexuality, reproductive health, assisted reproduction and genetic technologies, including discussion of the place of race in U.S. reproductive policy. Presenters active in issues concerning race included Toni M. Bond, Silvia Henriquez, Angela Hooton, Lisa C. Ikemoto, Sujatha Jesudason, Twila Perry, Dorothy Roberts, Loretta Ross, and Sang Hee Won. [Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

Reproductive Rights National Network (1978-1984)
Records, 1970-1985
8.25 linear ft. (18 boxes)
Reproductive rights advocacy group. RRNN was formed in 1977 to defend abortion rights while also advancing a multi-issue movement to ensure reproductive autonomy for all women by incorporating race, class, and sexuality into their work. Funding challenges and internal tensions over race contributed to the demise of the national organization in 1984. Collection contains materials on political actions and activities, files on affiliate organizations and women's clinics across the U.S., information about abortion legislation, and subject files concerning many related topics.View Finding Aid

SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective
Records, 1996-2010 (ongoing)
11.25 linear ft. (16 boxes)
SisterSong was formed in 1997 to educate women of color and policy makers on reproductive and sexual health and rights, and to work towards access to health services, information and resources that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. It is a network of local, regional and national grassroots agencies representing five primary ethnic populations/indigenous nations in the United States: African American, Arab American/Middle Eastern, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latina, and Native American/Indigenous.
[Note: This collection has not been fully processed and may be difficult to use.]View Finding Aid

YWCA of the U.S.A. (1906- )
Records, 1860-2002 (ongoing)
570.5 linear ft. (1133 boxes)
Social service organization with a long-time focus on the elimination of racism and empowerment of women. Its initial work with African-American women and girls, known as it's "Colored Work," was in segregated Associations in cities and on the campuses of historically black colleges. Through the 1910s, the Association gradually shifted its approach, adopting a religious rationale for racial justice activities. This shift, combined with the dramatic expansion of the work with "colored" women during World War I, steered the National Association toward a focus on "interracial education" directed at the YWCA's white members and the public at large. In 1970, the Association adopted as its One Imperative, "the elimination of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary." The records include a wide array of program materials including skits, articles, newsletters, study outlines, and books to inform about the issues and offer effective techniques for group interracial work.
[Note: Access to audiovisual materials may first require production of research copies. Collection is stored offsite; researchers must give 48 hours advance notice.]View Finding Aid

Countries Collection
Records, 1540-2006 (ongoing)
25.25 linear ft. (49 boxes)
Collection contains materials on the Reconstruction era, including files on the New England Freedmen's Aid Society as well as the African American teacher and writer Susie King Taylor; both are under "United States."View Finding Aid

Minorities Collection
Records, 1915-1983 (ongoing)
2 linear ft. (2 boxes)
Contains printed materials relating to the status of women of color in the United States, dating from 1915 to 1983. Items of interest include unpublished position papers from the Wesleyan College Center for Research on Women, and reports from the Conference on the Educational and Occupational Needs of Black, Hispanic, Asian-Pacific American, American Indian, and White Ethnic Women (1976-78).View Finding Aid

Slavery/Anti-Slavery Collection
Records, 1791-1968
.75 linear ft. (3 boxes)
Primarily documents the efforts of American abolitionists from 1791 to 1865. Items include sale deeds of female slaves (1820 and 1858), photographs of emancipated slaves, early articles on African American history, and writings on the escaped slave William Wells Brown by W. Edward Farrison.View Finding Aid

Oral Histories

Black Women Oral History Project
Collection, 1976-1985
2 linear ft. (2 boxes) Transcripts of oral histories of sixty-six black women, most born before 1910, who "have made strong impacts on their communities through their professions or through voluntary service." The interviews were conducted from 1976 to 1985.View Finding Aid

Documenting Lesbian Lives Oral History Project
2.25 linear ft. (3 boxes)
Collection, 2010
A collection of life histories of women who identify as lesbian, bisexual, woman-identified, queer, or who prefer not to identify with sexuality categories. Interviews cover childhood and growing up experiences; education and employment, activism and politics, family, identity, relationships and community. Narrators include June Millington (1949 - ), a Filipino-born musician and activist.
[Note: Partially restricted access - contact the Sophia Smith Collection for more information.]

Ida Louise Jackson (1902 - )
Oral history, 1984-1985
.25 linear ft. (1 volume)
Teacher, Administrator. Oral history interview conducted by Gabrielle Morris as part of the University of California's Black Alumni Series, published as Overcoming Barriers In Education (1990). She speaks of her background, family and early education in Mississippi and Louisiana, relates her experiences as an undergraduate at the University of California, the founding of Alpha Kappa Alpha in 1921 (the first sorority for Black women in the western United States), and her teaching experiences in Oakland, California.View Finding Aid

Living U.S. Women's History (Oral History Project)
Records, 1999-2005
17.25 linear ft. (56 boxes)
Historians. Part of a larger project, The Emergence of U.S. Women's History, 1972-1997: a Model for the Gender Equity Movement, the purpose of which is to document the history "of people who have worked on gender equity in schools, universities and university groups." The collection contains fifty-one interviews with pioneering women's historians, including several women of color:
African-American: Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, Darlene Clark Hine, and Deborah
Gray White.
Asian-American: Valerie Matsumoto and Judy Yung.
Hispanic/Latina: Vicki Ruíz, Louise Ano Nuevo Kerr, and Deena Gonzalez.
[Note: Partially restricted access - contact the Sophia Smith Collection for more information.]View Finding Aid

New York City Women Community Activists Oral History Project
Collection, 2004-2009
.5 linear ft. (1 box)
This oral history collection includes audiovisual materials and transcripts of fourteen interviews conducted by Tamar Carroll for her dissertation on women's community activism in New York City from 1955 to 1995. Included are interviews with members of the National Congress of Neighborhood Women, Sally Martinez Fisher and Ethel Velez.
[Note: Access to audiovisual materials may first require production of research copies.]View Finding Aid

Voices of Feminism Oral History Project, 2002-
Collection, 1990-2009
37.5 linear ft. (96 boxes)
Project documents the persistence and diversity of organizing for women in the United States. Among the narrators are many women of color and anti-racism activists, including:

Links to the full transcripts can be found on the Voices of Feminism website.
[Note: Partially restricted access - contact the Sophia Smith Collection for more information.]View Finding Aid

A Woman's Legacy: Five Women Who Made a Difference
Collection, 1998-2003
.5 linear ft. (1 box)
The series consists of transcripts and audio recordings including Belva Davis, an African-American journalist.View Finding Aid

Periodicals

The Sophia Smith Collection has partial runs of many periodicals by and about women of color, including:

Information about students and faculty of color at Smith is scattered throughout the Archives, reflecting its varied sources. Few women of color attended Smith between 1875 and 1945, and the first African-American professor came in September 1945. The kinds of records that might contain information about any student or faculty member can be used by the persistent researcher to piece together a picture of student experiences at Smith and race-related policies and attitudes in the college and the community; these materials include biographical files on individuals, correspondence about college policies, student letters, oral histories, photographs, and student organizational records such as the Asian Students Association, the Black Student Alliance, and Korean-American Students at Smith. There is more documentation from the 1970s on.

(Note: The SSC is actively collecting the papers and oral histories of women of color and the records of their organizations. Please see the complete list of collections or contact us for updated information on our holdings.)